The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has expressed concern over the escalating insecurity across the country and the perceived inadequate response from the Federal Government. The forum warned that political leaders have abandoned governance to focus on the 2027 general elections while armed non-state actors continue to ravage communities.
The group made mentioned the rise of constant assaults, abductions, and killings affecting states like Zamfara, Benue, Katsina, Kogi, Niger, and Plateau. It also referenced the recent abduction of prospective National Youth Service Corps members in Imo State and the ongoing humanitarian crises leaving scores of citizens trapped in the bushes of Taraba, Borno, and Kwara states.
The forum, in a statement signed by the ACF National Publicity Secretary, Tukur Muhammad-Baba, criticised President Bola Tinubu’s recent Independence Anniversary address for ignoring the national security emergency.
“President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s Independence Anniversary address to Nigeria, prosaically delivered, made only a single, fleeting mention of insecurity, as if just a grudging and irritating footnote. This is very telling. Scores of children remain in the hands of terrorists in Borno, Kwara and other states”, Baba.
The ACF lamented about the daily loss of lives and the conditions faced by citizens held captive by terrorists. The forum also mentioned that five different attacks were recorded on a single day in Zamfara, turning the state into a killing field.
The socio-cultural group warned that political activities must give way to urgent interventions to halt the daily abduction and slaughter of defenceless citizens.
“In contrast, elected officials and other politically exposed stakeholders seem more concerned and obsessed with the forthcoming 2027 elections. Delivering governance has become a far distant priority. Both scenarios are utterly as disheartening as they are frightening because they strike at the very foundation and pose a definite existential threat to Nigeria.”
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